Course Reactions

Good morning and welcome to the Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.® Monday morning minute.

Good morning and welcome to Monday Morning Minute. I’m Fitz and we’re here in Buffalo, New York at our last course of 2022. It’s unbelievable that we’ve had 15 courses this year, but we’re so excited. We got a great group of dentists in there. We have almost 90 people here this week.

Dr. Shatkin did some live surgery today. We’ve had lectures from the International Academy of Mini Dental Implants. Absolutely awesome. If you haven’t been out to Buffalo, you got to come out and see what we’re doing with minimally invasive implants. We had the good fortune of talking to some of the doctors who attended this weekend and we’d like to show you what they had to say.

We have a wonderful doctor with us all the way from New South Wales, Australia. So Doc, how was your trip up to Buffalo?  It’s been pretty good. I came a few weeks ago for the basic course and then I’ve had a couple of weeks to travel around and see a little bit of Canada and quite a bit of New York and now I get to see a snowstorm which I’ve never seen before.

Oh, okay. Well this will be fun. This will be a good time. So tell me, why did you decide to come up to Buffalo, New York, to Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.® To learn about mini dental implants?

So my mom went to Dr. Shatkin’s lectures in Sydney maybe about twelve years ago and she’s been doing little bits here and there and I thought it was about time I learn and start doing them myself.

Now what impressed you about the course? Did you think it was just about denture stabilization and single tooth replacement or do you know if we can do roundhouse bridges on it and all that? So I haven’t seen too much of the more advanced stuff. I didn’t even know that mono implants were a thing. So I mean, I’ve seen a lot of new things since I’ve come here.

Okay, that’s excellent. Well, that’s good to hear. What do you have to tell all the Australian people back home about your adventure to Buffalo?

I have quite enjoyed my trip here to Buffalo. Niagara Falls is pretty cool. I mean your course is not the only thing on the list and I must say the forests and the waterfalls around here are pretty impressive. So even the little waterfalls.

Yeah, I agree. I agree with you 100%. The big one’s nice, but the little ones are cool too. Okay. So we wish you nothing but the best of luck down there and you know that if you ever have any questions, you can always call us any time of well, probably email us but we’ll be in touch for sure. And thank you so much for coming out to Buffalo now. Cheers. Cheers.

I’m here with a nice Canadian chap by the name of Stefan wolves. Stefan’s from British Columbia. Am I correct? That’s right. Okay. And let me ask you this. How did you hear about Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.® Mini dental implants?

I heard online. I was looking for an alternative to regular implants, which I also place, and online was the way to go. I I found it. Then I start calling, and you guys are always so great on the phone, picking up and answering. I get to talk to a real person, answering all my questions. And this is the first time I’ve come out to Buffalo for a course, and I love it. I’ll be back.

That’s awesome. That’s wonderful. So thank you for coming out. What have you learned in the last couple of days? You’re at our advanced course, so what do you learn? Oh, man, learning. There’s so many other options to tackle, some of the issues that we deal with when we’re placing implants, and so many tools available for us as well. So I won’t be going home empty handed.

Okay. That’s awesome. I know you’re going to be going home with one of our lasers. That’s right. That’s awesome. I’m looking forward to it. All right, that’s great.

So we get doctors coming in from all over the country, and believe me, we’re grateful for docs like Dr. Wolfs here who made a long track from the west out to Buffalo. But we appreciate it more than you know. Thanks for coming out, pal. You’re welcome. And don’t worry about the snow. We get snow down all the time in Canada, so you guys will survive. This is nothing, right? That’s right. All right, thank you.

So this is Dr. Alvin Jenkins from West Jefferson, North Carolina. And Dr. Jenkins has been with us, what, for about seven, seven years, I guess. Seven years. Seven, eight years. Okay. How was your mini dental implant experience, Been?

It’s probably the most satisfying thing that I do in my practice. I love it, and so does my staff. They enjoy working with me, doing mini dental implants. They love to see that patient smiles and the response and hear things like that’s the fastest, easiest implant I’ve ever seen from a new staff member. She was blown away, and I said, yeah, that’s what I want to hear.

That’s excellent. That’s great. And now you’ve been up to our course here a few times, but what brings you back to the advanced course? I think this may be the third time I’ve attended the advanced course. I missed some time because of COVID and things going on. I just love to be around the doctors here and around the staff here at Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.®. Everybody is very friendly and always willing to share things with me, and I just value the camaraderie, and I’ve always enjoyed it.

Thank you. And we feel the same about you. You’re a great man, and it’s been nice watching your practice grow. Well, thank you very much, Tom. It’s a pleasure to be here. Thank you for coming up. We appreciate you being with us. My pleasure. Thank you.

Okay, so, Dr. Ellis, you’re at our advanced course. It’s here in November. And tell me, so far, what do you think of the course? It’s been great. This is my second time I went out to Lake Tahoe, I think it was in August. Signed up, became a implant center. Been doing a lot of minis, some monos. It’s been great. Brought my staff out this time. They’re learning a lot. It’s been a great time.

Awesome. Now, how are your patients accepting the mini implants? Surprisingly great. Since August, I think we’re probably I have five roundhouses in play, completed one so far completely. She’s very happy. I’ve done a lot of singles. Splendid bridges. I think things are going great.

That’s awesome. Wonderful. That’s great news. Now, so you brought your staff out. What was the hope for your staff to pick up here? Well, there’s so many things as a dentist that you have to focus on. I was hoping to get my staff on board so they can relieve some of my focus and they can grab a hold on to the pearls that they need to help me do better for our patients. So I was hoping to alleviate some of my need to know everything, allowing them to know some of the things to back me up on treating my patients.

That’s an excellent point. So you’re offering this a very affordable procedure now, and do you see the patients accepting it much more so than other procedures that you offer?

Yeah, it was very surprising to me. We are in a small rural farming community. I’ve always been reluctant throughout that number, and I’ve just started doing it. And a number of people that readily accept five, six, 7000, I have two patients that are doing upper and lower. So that’s 30,000 on two patients that are in play now. And they’re just doing it. That’s helping with the financing. They finance it. We’ve already been paid. It’s been great. I bet you we’re close to a couple of hundred grand since August that’s come into my practice that wouldn’t have if I hadn’t started the minis.

Wow, that’s phenomenal. That’s great. You’re off to a great start with your mini implant center. We applaud you. And remember, you can come at any time with any of your staff members to any course here in Buffalo. So we hope to see in 2023 sometime. We’re going to come back when there’s better weather. Okay. We want snow. We’ll stay in Idaho. We want to come out. And it’s nice weather, not snow. Got you. We’ll see you in June. We’ll see at the June advanced course. All right. Thanks a lot, Dr. Ellis. Thanks, Fitz. Okay, buddy.

We have two wonderful women from San Diego, California, at our advanced course, and Dr. Karen, can you tell us a little bit about what you’ve learned so far. Well, it’s been a great experience. I’m learning about mini implants like there’s no tomorrow. This is really good for my patients. I’m a geriatric dentist, and I can’t wait to get back to San Diego, start placing them.

I bet there’s a lot of denture stabilization to be done. Absolutely. That’s the better of our practice every single day. Yeah, I agree. And let me ask you this. How did you find out about Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.®? I heard about you from Gordon Christensen at the ADA, and I did my research, and I thought it was a good product, so I decided to come. Oh, okay.

We met down in Houston originally, and then you decided to come up to Buffalo. Did you enjoy the live surgery today? I did. It was very interesting. It was really good for me to see all the things that can happen and how to handle those. That was very good. Okay.

And you brought your number one assistant, Michelle, with you. She’s my office manager. Hi. Yeah. How’s life in the dental office with Dr. Karen? It’s great. We’ve learned a lot today, especially with the live surgery case. We’ve learned how to manage when it’s complex, and it was great for me to see how it works, actually, because I’ve never seen the mini implants. So that was a great lecture.

Okay, great. And when you get back, you’re going to really start installing these in your dental practice. Right? Monday I’ll be placing my first one, so I’m looking forward to that.

There you go, sports fans. You have it.

Good morning and welcome to the Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.® Monday Morning Minute.

Good morning and welcome to the Monday Morning Minute. I’m Fitz. We’re here at the Shatkin Mini Dental Implant Training Facility in Buffalo, New York. And we just had the good fortune to listen into Connor Lemieux, who is a resident dentist with the NYU Langone program here at Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.®, and he’s just put on a heck of a presentation. Thank you. So talk to us a little bit about that case that you just did.

Yeah, so I presented on an upper and lower fix on six. Like you said. I’m a resident here at Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.®, and I’m part of the NYU Langone program. So I place ten implants on the top, ten implants on the bottom. My patient’s currently in temporaries right now, but we’re looking forward to the final product.

That’s awesome. Now, you started on July 1, right. You go from July 1 to July 1. Yes. So you’re with us for one year. Okay, great. And you went to Tuff’s Dental School. Got you. So since you’ve been here, it’s what been almost three months? Three. Four months. Three, four months now. Okay. And how many implants have you placed since you’ve been here?

Yeah, just last week, I hit over the 100 implant mark. So I’m at about 105 implants right now. So everything’s going really well right now. I’m excited. That is absolutely phenomenal. Now, when you were in dental school, at Tuff’s. How many implants did you place? Zero. I think he’s done the right thing, boys. I made the right choice. I’m at the right place.

He’s very happy, and he’s got a bright future, so I thought, awesome lecture, and thank you, man. Keep up the great work. Thank you so much. Okay, buddy. Thanks for it. Thanks again. Yeah, of course. Kay.

So we’re back at the Shatkin training center with two excellent staff members from Wisconsin. Okay. This is Ashley, and this is Merry, and they work with Dr. Jansen. How are things going today at the course, Ashley?

It’s going very well. It’s great to be back a couple of years off, but we’re back now, and we’re excited to be here learning and getting a refresher on everything. Did you do any hands on placement with the implants today? Not yet. No, not yet. Okay. They’re here to watch the Green Bay Packers play the Buffalo Bills Sunday night, so that should be interesting. So we’re not going to get into that just now.

But, Merry, how are things going out at the dental office in Wisconsin? Oh, at the office, it’s going great. Using the knowledge that we learned here years ago for placing implants in our office now, that’s wonderful. That’s excellent. And so far, the course has been all right. Yes. Love the new facility. It’s our first time back in the new facility. Love it. And picking up some pearls to use when we get back.

Great. That is awesome. So things are going well out in Wisconsin. Better weather. Go pack. Go pack. Go.

So we’re here with Dr. Bryan Packard from Bowling Green, Kentucky. Brian, it’s great having you with us. Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here. Excited to be here. It’s already been a great event. It’s the only first day. All right, excellent. And let me ask you this question. What made you first of all, how did you find Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.®?

I found Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.® Through a colleague of mine, we were in a mastermind together. We both started up our own dental practices a couple of years ago. And she had taken this course two years ago and loved it, raved about it, got me excited about it. I’ve been want to take it ever since. But like I was telling you, it’s been a crazy couple of years. So I’m finally here, and I’m really liking what I’m hearing. Discussions with you, discussions with some of the other doctors have been really excellent. It’s been pretty good.

And tomorrow we’re going to be seeing some live surgery. So I think you’ll pick up a lot on that too. I can’t wait for that. Yes, I’ve been looking forward to that. I’ve seen some of the YouTube videos and obviously some of the Monday morning videos that I’ve enjoyed watching as well. So that’s been great as well.

Now you’re on one very good official. Awesome. Thank you very much, my friend. Thanks for coming out to Buffalo. Yeah. Okay, we’ll talk to you soon.

And now I’m here with Dr. Patel, who’s from Hagerstown, Maryland, who works with Dr. Rhett Eklund and his MDICA company down in Hagerstown. So, Dr. Patel, what do you think of the course this far?

It’s pretty amazing. Super, super excited. I know. Dr. Rhett has an implant case ready for me Monday morning. Monday morning? Oh, yes. So there’s not much time after you get back. No. Wow, that’s great. Now, did Dr. Eklund think it would be a good idea for you to come up here and learn from Dr. Shatkin?

Yes, it was the original plan was you were going to come with the team. Somehow it didn’t work out, but that’s going to happen soon. Okay, good. A lot of the team members who have been there for a while, they have attended the course, but the new employees, just like me, they are on the list. Next time I come in, we’re going to have more team members with us.

Okay. And what did you enjoy Dr. Shakin’s lecture this morning? Yes, I did. The best part was the patient video of the patient crying in tears because they were so happy with the new smile. I see that often in our clinic as well. It’s pretty impressive how we are changing lives with the mini implants. It’s pretty rewarding.

It’s rewarding, isn’t it? And I know I see the same thing downstairs at Dr. Shatkin’s office every day. It’s incredible. There’s a lot, and there are a ton of people to help. So you’re doing the right thing. And Dr. Eklund sending you up here, I think it was a great idea. Yes. So thank you so much for coming. Thank you for having me. You’re welcome.

Hey, Mark, that was a great presentation you had on your marketing. Thank you very much. I’m not the marketing director. I’m the educational director for your community. For your community. Let me tell you, that infomercial seems like it really works. It’s killing it. It’s killing it. Dr. Baggett from Missouri, he talked about he’s booked five months out now and he’s got a nice rotation with his patients, and he’s as happy as a clam.

Wow. I’ll tell you what. So if anybody is interested in infomercial, they should give you a call. Give me a call. Give me a call. I’m at Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.®. Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.®.com. But call me on my cell phone. 716-870-1188. Give me a call anytime. Day, night, well, after 01:00 in the morning, I’m sleeping for a little bit, but, yeah, it’s going to work.

And you can find him at Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.® weekdays. 716-839-2959. Mark Ahrens. That’s the guy you have to talk to about an infomercial. And we have one more course to do after this. One more course. Advanced course coming up. Yeah, we’re doing live surgery tomorrow. All day. Dr. Shatkin’s is doing some live surgery. And we got some great lectures tomorrow. Great lectures.

But in November, it’s about the week before Thanksgiving. On the 17th and 18th, we’re going to have a two day advance course, and that’s a Thursday and a Friday. And then Dr. Samuel Shatkin, who Botox. Botox. Look at him.

He says he can help me. I may be the model. Yeah, you and me both. But I’ll tell you what, it’s a great course on Botox. He teaches how to relax that masseter muscle to really help with the restoration you guys are doing. So we’re going to be doing Botox on November 19, which is a Saturday. So advanced course Thursday and Friday and then Botox Saturday. I’ll be there. All right. Sounds great, buddy. I’ll be there, too. Okay.

Looking forward to it, man. Okay, we hope you have a great week. Placing mini dental implants, and mono dental implants. And as always, call Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.® with any questions you have. We’re happy to help. Have a great week. Place in the implants. Go, Bills. Go, Bills.

Good morning and welcome to the Shatkin F.I.R.S.T.® Monday morning minute.

Good morning and welcome to the Monday Morning Minute. So it’s Friday, and Friday means course day here in Buffalo, and we’re excited to have a great group of dentists with us from all over the country. So we have St. Louis Blues fans here with us. We have doctors from Michigan, a lot of Michigan folks here. And we have doctors from Missouri. You guys, what do you think about the course so far?

It’s been great to be here. I mean, super informative and my first time being here, too, so I’ve really enjoyed it. Everyone’s just been really awesome, too. And just like I said, we’ve learned a lot just being assistants and everything, too, so it’s nice to be able to be here.

And you work with a very big mini implant producer, Dr. Ryan. Yes, with Dr. Ryan. There he is. Todd, how are things going out in Hillsdale, Michigan? Really good. We kind of consider the mini implant a little bit recession proof because we’re trying to stay away from a recession. But it helps having these extra services, certainly in a general dental practice. Excellent. Yeah, we see it too. Like Dr. Shatkin always says, they’re recession proof, which is great. Yeah, we feel the same way, for sure.

And you think it’s important to bring your staff out to the courses? Oh, absolutely. They pick up something. I mean, I’ve been here 10-15 times to the courses and always try to bring some staff along with me because we’ll always pick up something new, for sure. Okay, excellent. Thank you very much, you guys. We appreciate you coming.

Now, Maxine. You came from Michigan. Correct? And you came a day early. Tell us about that. So I came a day early. I was Dr. Shatkin’s shadow for the whole day. I was right behind him. I watched all the surgeries and then also witnessed a lot of the consults and saw how he closed all the cases. It was a really exciting opportunity.

Yeah. And how many implants did you guys end up doing yesterday? I lost count. What about? 157 in production. 157,000. So nonstop cases. We did roundhouses, single implant cases, seated crowns. One, five chairs were going at once, and I was just trying to keep up. Did I tell you to wear your sneakers to the dental office? I was running back and forth, and he was on top of the whole thing. I was really excited to see.

And we have Dr. Hippensteel. You’re one of our doctors from a mini Implant Center of America from Tennessee. And you were with the Shadowing as well? I was in the clinic also, yeah. You can see it was amazing. You can see just about everything. Every step and every step of the implant process, from the extractions to the placement to picking up the housings, whatever it is, impressions, all that stuff. And you just learn every little thing that you need to learn, kind of reinforces what you’re doing. Right. This is my third year. And you pick up on a lot of tips, right? Yeah, for sure it is. Yeah.

And you guys, this is your first visit to Buffalo? Absolutely. Okay. Where are you coming from? Texas. Houston, Texas. Mike Charles. And you’re going to be down at the ADA in a few weeks? Absolutely, I will. You’re going to come over to our booth? Yes. Marky booth number? Booth 1309.

Where are you from? Columbus, Ohio. Columbus, Ohio. Okay. Do you drive over? Yeah, I just drive over. And what do you think about the course thus far?

So far it’s been really informative. I liked how it’s been, like, the good lecture portion, a little bit of hands on, too. I said it’s my first time coming here. If you’re taking a lot of information, and it’s all been enjoyable.

Yeah, it is. And there’s a lot of information, but we appreciate you coming. Driving in from Columbus, Ohio. That’s great.

And I don’t have to ask you where you’re from oh, no. I’m in Wichita, Kansas, right now. But it’s been a blast. I’m new to the MDI system and the whole whole process, so, you know, it’s a good starter course. I’ve learned a lot Okay. Excellent. Beautiful.

So, Dave, we got a great group of docs here with us for today, and tomorrow, be sure that everybody checks out our upcoming course. We’re going to have a course in October, and then we’re going to be into an advanced course in November. We’re going to be down in Houston, Texas, for the ADA on the 13th through the 15th. So if you’re in that neck of the woods, come over and see us and keep placing those mini dental implants. We look forward to working with every one of you out there. And have a great week placing mini dental implants. We’ll see you next week on the Monday morning Minute.